The DeLorean in the motel parking lot is a reference to both Lea Thompson's famous role in Back To The Future and the year 1985, when both Ping Pong Summer and Back To The Future take place.
The "I survived the Sooper Dooper Looper" tee shirt is a roller coaster from the 1970s-80s era Hersey Park amusement park in Pennsylvania. Its is a common vacation spot for Marylanders.
In a 2014 interview with Way Too Indie, Michael Tully spoke about how his personal experiences shaped the film: "The girl stuff wouldn't happen because I was such an insecure nerd I wouldn't have even been on the beach with a girl, let alone almost able to kiss her at that age. But things like my dad was a state trooper from Ireland who did take the family on vacations in the police car because he was so cheap it would save on a free one tank of gas. And I looked forward to it... For me it was not ironic. There was a sincerity. When Rad shows up in Ocean City and you're looking at this montage and all it is is kind of like beach hotel and all-you-can-eat buffet back and forth and he's like, 'This is great!'. Right away that's a barometer for the viewer to be like, 'I understand that maybe that isn't the coolest stuff in the world and it's not a big deal, but to him it is'. So that's what I was trying to do, to really tell it from that kid's perspective."